Romantic Adagios

Samuel Barber (Composer), Jules Massenet (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer), Erik Satie (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Aram Khachaturian (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Max Bruch (Composer), Edward Elgar (Composer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Pietro Mascagni (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Joaquin Rodrigo (Composer), Camille Saint-Saens (Composer), Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Gabriel Faure (Composer), David Zinman (Conductor), Richard Bonynge (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: David Zinman, Richard Bonynge
• Composer: Samuel Barber, Jules Massenet, Sergey Rachmaninov, Erik Satie, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, et al.
• Audio CD (June 13, 2000)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00004C8TG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,003 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #30 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Choruses
  • #55 in Music > Classical > Chamber Music > Quartets
  • #85 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Reeds & Winds > Clarinet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, great collection!, September 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Romantic Adagios (Audio CD)

I was stunned to see only two and a half stars for romantic adagios. I don't know how much you get to know by listening to only one "song" out of so many in this collection, but in my opinion this CD collection deserves a lot of credit. I had heard of Samuel Barber's Adagio for strings many times before and I was impressed but this was the first time that I was completely mesmerized. I highly recommend to any Barber fans to listen to this interpretation by David Zinman which is incredible. There seems to be so much passion and emotion! Also others such as Adagio of Spartacus and Clarinet Concerto just make the collection even better.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great music! not so great sound variations!, July 7, 2003

By 

Dr R. J. Lofaro (AL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Romantic Adagios (Audio CD)

The selections and the arrangements are truly excellent. There are some hard to find (on the same CD) pieces and adagios--Spartacus ; Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez; Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavelleria...
But, better turn up the sound and then get away from the speakers. Parts of the selections are played so very softly that, when you turn up the volume to hear them, you will get blasted by those sections that have cresendos, or just plain louder sections. Too bad!
Very hard to enjoy in a car--or, even at home. if this problem did not exist, this is a 5 star plus!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent intro to Faure & Barber, November 26, 2000

By 

Darrin Howard (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romantic Adagios (Audio CD)

This is a collection of tranquil pieces (not "songs", which, by definition, must have vocals) and individual movements excerpted from larger classical works. All of the performances are at least good, some excellent. Especially satisfying are the Barber and Faure. As this recording shows, David Zinman is an outsanding interpreter of Barber while Dutoit handles the Faure with the style, polish, and grace that this music requires. Although the "Pavanne" was originally composed as an instrumental piece, a year after its composition Faure adapted it to fit the text that is given on the CD. He would hardly have been insulted to find a choral version of this work. In fact, given Dutoit's elegantly understated performance, he would probably think his music well served. Also recommendable from this disc is Solti's excerpt from Mahler's 5th and Kennedy's rendition of Massenet's "Thais." In a nutshell, if you are interested in exploring some very enjoyable (if not totally on the beaten path) music, this set is an excellent choice.